Email   Print   Share By Erin Rogers, Sentinel Leisure Editor

Facebook Digg Delicious October 25, 2012 | Leisure

Guests at the newly rennovated Palmer Theater filter in and wait for the movie to start. Erin Rogers, Sentinel Leisure Editor

The first guests come through the doors at Palmer Theater’s reopening Friday night for a showing of “Frankenweenie.” The theater has been under renovation since April, after suffering burn damage in January. Erin Rogers, Sentinel Leisure Editor

Paula Gunderson, Ted Pennington, Andy Bird and James O’Connors cut the ribbon on Palmer Theater’s stage Friday night at the grand reopening of the theater. Erin Rogers, Sentinel Leisure Editor

Fort Hood’s Palmer Theater had its grand reopening Friday night with a showing of Disney’s “Frankenweenie” after being inoperable for nine months due to a fire that started in the theater’s kitchen in January.

Thanks to the Fort Hood Fire Department, who put out a January fire, and Fort Hood’s Directorate of Public Works, which reworked the shell of the theater, the Army and Air Force Exchange Service was able to bring the theater back even better than it was before, Paula Gunderson, the Fort Hood Exchange general manager, said.

“We are now the first theater to go digital and 3D out of all of the Army and Air Force Exchange theaters in the country,” she said. “We’re one of only four that has digital capabilities on military installations.”

Along with the theater’s new silver screen, 3D technology, 7.1 Dolby digital surround sound and digital capabilities, Palmer Theater was able to give the audience a first circuit showing of “Frankenweenie,” which Gunderson said was exciting for the project.

“Post theaters usually show movies after they have been out for a little while, on their second circuit. But after Disney found out what had happened to our theater, they allowed us to show ‘Frankenweenie’ while it’s still on its first circuit,” Gunderson said.

Ted Pennington, Fort Hood’s restaurant business manager, said planning for the theater’s renovation began immediately after the fire, and the actual renovation started in April.

Many of Friday night’s movie-goers were returners, and said going to movies at Palmer theater was a regular activity for their Families.

“We were here at Fort Hood when the theater burned down,” Cheryl Guardiola said. “It kind of put a crook in things for us because that’s all we did last summer, come to movies.”

“We saw ‘Puss in Boots’ here,” added Guardiola’s daughter, Isabella Guardiola, 9.

Cheryl said having the theater is great for the Families on post, because it’s something to do that’s close to home when the weekend comes around, and she said it’s nice to come to Palmer because the movies are more appropriately themed than what is offered at off-post movie theaters.

“We used to come to this theater all the time last year when our dad was in Iraq,” Isabella’s sister, Nivia, 11, said.

Movie-goers bought popcorn from the theater’s Express Snack Avenue and gathered their 3D glasses while they filtered into Palmer’s new theater seats to watch the last event, the ribbon cutting, before the movie could start.

Gunderson, Pennington, James O’Connors, theater manager, and Andy Bird, deputy garrison commander, did the honors of cutting Palmer Theater’s ribbon on stage for the official opening before the national anthem and the start of “Frankenweenie.”

Bird recounted a story of how he and his wife used to come to movies at Palmer Theater when he was stationed at Fort Hood as a lieutenant in the late 70s, and he spoke of how great an asset the theater is to Fort Hood.

“I’m the only thing standing between you all and this movie,” Byrd said to the audience after cutting the ribbon, “So let’s get on with it.”